Equality quango revives 80s ‘loony Left’ policies

The “startling” claim last week that school skirts may break equality rules shows that the ‘loony Left’ policies of the 1980s have been embedded at the powerful new Equality Commission, a columnist has warned.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Leo McKinstry ripped into a raft of measures unveiled by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) exposing them as “bizarre nonsense”.

And he said “lunatic Leftism”, combined with 13 years of Labour rule has conspired to destroy “traditional, unifying bonds such as family life”.

The columnist also highlighted the impending Equality Bill which he said would only make the EHRC more influential.

And he slammed the quango’s grants of more than £650,000 to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups.

He likened the monetary awards to those of Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council in the 80s which “doled out grants to certain politically favoured groups”.

Mr McKinstry outlined the EHRC’s claim that schools which insist girls wear skirts could be discriminating against female pupils who have gender dysphoria and believe themselves to be boys.

He wrote: “Such an edict would be laughable were it not so indicative of the disturbing mindset of the equality bureaucrats who wield such control over our lives.

“The threat to take legal action against schools because some uniforms can be deemed ‘gender specific’ is beyond satire.

“The number of transsexual adults in Britain is tiny, perhaps as few as 5,000, yet the Commission wants all public services to be altered for the sake of this minuscule group.

“Furthermore, it is absurd to start putting these highly emotive, questionable labels on young people before they have barely passed puberty.”

He said that the EHRC praised a school which had enforced a ‘gender neutral uniform’ and had told teachers to teach about ‘exploring gender stereotypes’ as a result of one girl who had been identified as transgender.

“How outrageous that we have to pay for this through our taxes. No one voted for this radical agenda or for the bureaucrats pushing through the change”, he said.

Mr McKinstry also highlighted “dangerous traits of the Left-wing doctrinaires”, one of which is “to obliterate all traditional morality by presenting support for normal, married family life as outmoded and discriminatory”.

The columnist went on to criticise the “profligacy” at the EHRC.

He wrote that “salaries have risen by 25 per cent over the past two years” and that “28 of the employees earn more than £50,000-a-year and three receive over £100,000”.

Last week Harriet Harman, the Equalities Minister, distanced herself from the EHRC’s school skirts claim.

In July the EHRC came under fire after a staffing blunder costing nearly £1 million led to the National Audit Office refusing to sign off its accounts.

Shadow Minister for Women Theresa May said at the time: “Such a careless waste of taxpayers’ money is totally unacceptable. Never has the need been greater for public bodies to demonstrate restraint and value for money.”